1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an animal litter box used by animals such as cats and the like kept indoors, for example.
2. Related Art
Animals such as cats and the like enter an animal litter box and excrete urine and feces on the cat litter or the like. A pet owner removes the cat litter soiled by such urine and feces together with the feces and the like from the container, and then replenishes new cat litter according to the amount removed. However, cats and the like have a habit of stirring the cat litter with their legs after excretion, increasing the amount of cat litter soiled with urine and feces. In addition, since soiled cat litter spreads, it is difficult to completely remove only the soiled cat litter. Moreover, particles used in the cat litter or the like absorb urine to a certain degree, however, they cannot completely absorb the urine. Accordingly, the pet owner goes to a lot of trouble in keeping the litter box clean.
Accordingly, an integrally-molded particle container with an opening for animals to come in and out, a bottom portion which allows fluid to pass through and over which particulate matters are spread, and a holding portion from which a fluid absorbing sheet container may be drawn is held at a position under the bottom portion, has been disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application Publication No. 2005-6605 (Patent Document 1). The animal litter box provides the fluid absorbing sheet so as to avoid making contact with the bottom portion, thereby preventing fluid such as urine or the like absorbed into the fluid absorbing sheet from turning back. Accordingly, the animal litter box is fuss free and is easily cleaned.
However, since the aforementioned particle container has a complex structure because the bottom portion and the holding portion are integrally molded, it is difficult to clean the underside (holding portion side) of the bottom portion, for example.
In addition, an animal litter box, which is configured with an inner container including an opening for animals to come in and out and a bottom portion allowing fluid to pass through, and an outer container similarly including an opening and provided so as to overlap with the outside of the inner container, wherein both containers are joined at the respective openings, and a fluid absorbing sheet container is provided between the bottom portion of the inner container and the bottom portion of the outer container, has been disclosed in Japanese Design Registration Publication No. 1240264 (Patent Document 2).
However, with the animal litter box disclosed in Patent Document 2, both containers are in a stacked state since an edge of the opening of the inner container is joined to an edge of the opening of the outer container. Therefore, a side of the inner container and a side of the outer container overlap and become double, generating a waste of molding materials and increasing costs.
In addition, since both containers are joined at the respective edges of the openings, the depth of the outer container matches the depth of the entire container. Since an animal litter box is typically large and occupies a large space for non-manufacturing distribution and sales, an animal litter box which occupies as little space as possible in packaging is needed. Considering this point, the animal litter box of Patent Document 2 including a large outer container is not sufficiently compact for distribution and sales. In addition, the necessity of a large metal mold for molding increases costs, decreases productivity, and easily generates process defects.
Furthermore, with the animal litter box disclosed in Patent Document 2, the inner container is supported by the edge of the opening of the outer container and suspended. If an animal such as a cat and the like gets on the bottom portion in this state, deformation of the bottom portion of the inner container increases since the distance between the bottom portion of the inner container as the point to which force is applied and the edge of the opening as a fulcrum which supports the force is long. Improvement is required because animals such as cats and the like typically dislike the deformation of the bottom portion, however, with the animal litter box according to Patent Document 2, there is no sufficient countermeasure for this deflection, making animals uncomfortable.
The present invention is provided in view of the aforementioned problems, and aims to provide an animal litter box which allows suppression of costs for raw materials for molding, is compact and easy to store and carry when packaging, and comfortable for animals.